Issues / ROMAN GODFREY / #wattys2019

Nineteen.

A week had passed, and then two. 

Mariana hadn't spoken to Peter since their phone call. Letha was stuck in an awkward position; constantly trying to reconcile the two but Mariana was having none of it. Everything that happened before Roman went into a coma and now that Peter still refused to see Roman, everything just went to shit. 

Mariana was walking with the Godfrey girls, listening to Letha talk about Roman in just a few words. Shelley typed on her phone, "I miss him too." Mariana felt her heart drop a few inches. 

"We have to stick together," Letha said, smiling at both of them, one on each side. "If things never go back to normal we will still have each other," she said, trailing off when the idea of Roman never waking up crossed her mind once again. "I'll see you guys later."

They said their goodbyes and Mariana walked to the second floor for English. It had been two weeks and the sight of his empty seat always hit her like it was the first time all over again. She could feel eyes on her, but she paid them no mind, paying close attention to their silent reading for the class. Mariana didn't even notice Peter's seat was also empty. Her eyes refused to look up from her book.

"We've braved its ghosts often together, and dared each other to stand among the graves and ask them to come. But, Heathcliff, if I dare you now, will you venture? If you do, I'll keep you. I'll not lie there by myself: they may bury me twelve feet deep, and throw the church down over me, but I won't rest till you are with me. I never will!" 

 Mariana didn't read any more after that. 

-

Roman Godfrey was awake.

Roman Godfrey was awake and he was saying goodbye to Shelley, who nearly crushed him to death with her hug. He loved her to death. 

"I need you to believe in me, okay?" he whispered to her, "That is the most important thing right now."

Shelley nodded, watching as he walked the stairs to the second floor. "Be good." her electronic voice said. 

Roman turned and smiled at her, "That's the plan!" he said, before giving her a wink and sprinting the rest of the way. He couldn't believe he had checked out for two weeks, and by what Peter told him, Mariana hadn't been talking to him, nor was she taking his coma too well, knowledge courtesy of Letha. He didn't think it was undeserved, but that was behind him now. They needed her by their side... He needed her.

Roman peeked in the window to Pissarro's class, seeing Mariana sitting at her desk with her book closed. Nobody noticed him, which he found surprising considering nobody really paid attention in the first place. 

"Sheeit," he mumbled and quickly slunk against the lockers, pulling out his phone. He needed her to come out and he didn't have any other choice. He knew she turned her ringer off during school, but he had to give this a shot. 

Come outside.

He hit 'send' and waited.

Mariana felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She glanced around the room, trying to see if it was someone around her but found that everyone was doing their reading. Until she found that Peter's seat was empty.